Lacrosse Magazine is counting down its preseason rankings
throughout the month of January exclusively on
LaxMagazine.com.

Today continues a look at our NCAA Division I Top 20
rankings.For more, visit LaxMagazine.com/LMranks. Follow
@LacrosseMag on Twitter and Tweet using the
hashtag #LMranks.The countdown will resume
Friday with profiles of the 16th-ranked teams in NCAA Division I
men and women.

Power Ratings

Offense: 4*Defense: 2Goalkeeping: 2Draw: 3
* Out of 5

Top Returner

A Katie Ferris (Jr.)
Whitney Thayer scored 74 points in 1981 to set a UMass school
record that stood for 31 years. Ferris smashed it in 2012, rattling
off 98 points to set a new mark for the Minutewomen. Her goals (59)
and assists (39) were new school records too, and her 98 points are
now the all-time Atlantic 10 record. She was the 2012 A10 Offensive
Player of the Year.

X-Factor

A Cori Murray (Sr.)
Murray came off the bench to become the Minutewomen's No. 4
scorer. She was named the MVP of the A10 tournament, memorably
scoring five goals on five shots in a 14-9 championship game win
over Richmond. With the loss of Jesse O'Donnell to graduation,
expect to see a lot more of Murray in 2013.

What's New?

The goalie. Three-year starter Katie Florence graduated, and
sophomore Rachael Vallarelli is the odds-on replacement. Vallarelli
played in 12 games last year (although without any starts), making
46 saves and posting a .484 save percentage. She'll have the
advantage of excellent coaching, since former Northwestern goalie
Brianne LoManto is now a UMass assistant.

What's Not?

The likelihood that the Minutewomen will repeat as A10 champs.
They've won four conference titles in a row, they haven't lost a
league game since 2010 and they are the hosts of the 2013 A10
tournament.

2012 Recap

Record: 19-2, 7-0 A10

In a Nutshell: UMass rode the No. 2 offense in
the nation (15.81 goals per game) to a 19-2 record and a fourth
straight A10 championship. They had to rally to defeat Canisius,
13-12, in an NCAA tournament play-in game, and then ran into the
Maryland buzzsaw in the first round, losing 15-12.

High Point: A 12-11 OT win versus America East
champion Albany on March 21. The game featured six ties and five
lead changes, and was finally won when Nina Sarcona (one goal, one
assist) scored on a Ferris (three goals, three assists) assist in
the extra period.

Low Point: A 19-7 loss at Northwestern on March
17. It was the team's only regular season loss, and hardly any
visitors succeed at Lakeside Field, but the blowout illustrated how
far the Minutewomen have to go if they want to compete on the
national stage. The Wildcats held Ferris to zero shots, raced to a
13-3 halftime lead and played their entire roster.

2013 Preview

Best Case: The offense keeps churning out
points, especially Katie Ferris, who has a monster season and
repeats as the A10 Offensive Player of the Year. The expanded NCAA
tournament field of 26 benefits UMass, which doesn't get a bye in
the first round but draws a relatively easy opponent. They gets
their first NCAA tournament win since 1984.

Worst Case: The offense misses Jesse O'Donnell
and Nina Sarcona too much, and the defense is soft without Ali
Houlis (29 CT) and Riley Perry (42 CT). The Minutemen struggle
against ranked opponents and get tripped up by an upstart
(Richmond? Duquesne?) in the conference tournament. The Minutewomen
finish the season with a decent win-loss record, but no
hardware.